6 ms·

why would you buy a subdomain for $20/y instead of a regular domain?

geoah 4y ago
The hostname is pretty fun sounding, seems to offer a basic profile page and email forwarding. Assuming the setup is noob friendly I wouldn’t call it a very unfair price. Yes you can do it for cheaper in gandi but seems more daunting a task. The eTLD stuff they mention are interesting, still trying to understand what it actually means though. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Suffix_List https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Suffix_List
simonhamp 4y ago
It's not just a subdomain. It's the landing page, an email address with forwarding, creation of a Mastodon account on their instance... there's a lot there. $20/year is actually a bargain as it would likely cost you more than that each month to run all of that yourself
- robjan 4y ago
  That's great until they get bored of running the service and you've now lost all of the aforementioned which are dependent on their domain.
  - simonhamp 4y ago
    Seems like a bit of fun. I've definitely thought even less about something before parting with $20 on it /shrug
    - quickthrower2 4y ago
      It is not the $20 that is a the main problem. Backlinks to your profile and contacts with that email address for example.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - Volundr 4y ago
    I mean you could say the same about any business. I fail to see how this is unique in that regard.
- charcircuit 4y ago
  A DNS server, landing page and email can be had for free. For the rest there are free alternatives like twitter, pastebin, etc.
- derefr 4y ago
  Many DNS registrars offer very similar sets of value-add services for free for real TLDs people buy through them. Web "parking pages" and vanity email forwarding are table stakes. What wouldn't be table stakes, would be if each of these was its own Mastodon instance, or something else like that that actually had an OpEx cost.
  - strokirk 4y ago
    Trouble is, many registrars do with with way worse UX. I own domains from two registrars and loathe to use their interfaces.
- hot_gril 4y ago
  I get it, but $20 still seems rather high for that. Anyway, it's a cool website.
  - 627467 4y ago
    Interesting... I share that feeling, yet, if they actually positioned this as: "Pay 20usd/y for your social account in our mastodon instance and get free subdomain, webpage and email forwarding" I would find this totally acceptable, considering the potential costs of actually running a mastodon instance.
    - hot_gril 4y ago
      There are plenty of free-to-use Mastodon instances. They claim theirs is nicer, but it's hard to tell upfront, so it makes sense to me that they'd focus on the whole personal homepage aspect. If I liked the omg.lol domain name a ton, I'd pay for this.
tptacek 4y ago
Why would pay you $20/y for a regular domain that doesn't do anything until you spend more money (and time and money) to make it do something?
- quickthrower2 4y ago
  The main reason is you have more protection and guaranteed continual ownership of the thing (depending on the TLD you choose, of course). Whereas if this service shut down in 12 months time ... well it wouldn't be buckling any trends by doing so. And if they shut down and let the omg.lol lapse or sell it, someone could then redirect all the subdomains to who knows what. Another reason might be domain trust? If spammers use omg.lol subdomains the entire thing might be blacklisted for email. Domains are easier to resell. I don't think there will be a secondary market for omg.lol and if you sell you business based on an omg.lol it will be a red flag vs. a top level domain. On the other hand if you intent is a personal CV / bio type page, with email (you need fastmail too) and so on, the $20 is a great deal. But I would rather just use a xyz.netlify.com for such a project, then couple that with a free email service.
  - derefr 4y ago
    > Another reason might be domain trust? If spammers use omg.lol subdomains the entire thing might be blacklisted for email. I think that them being on the https://wiki.mozilla.org/Public_Suffix_List https://wiki.mozilla.org/Public_Suffix_List makes that unlikely. (a Public Suffix is a thing like .co.uk — would it make sense to blacklist .co.uk? Not unless you're the type of postmaster who is willing to blacklist entire TLDs like .biz as well.)
    - quickthrower2 4y ago
      Ok I didn't know about this list. Feel like I should have known! I always though it was up to countries and top-level operators. I imagined something like .uk publishing somehow that .co.uk is a top level domain, for example. I think the requirements to run a top level domain, like .lol itself are pretty onerous? But I wonder if it is easier to get your subdomain added to the public suffix list, and I wonder what legal guarantees are afforded to someone who registers such a domain.
noduerme 4y ago
I can see a lot of potential here as an alternative for people like me who don't have or want social media accounts. Sometimes I do want to share a profile with people without linking to my business website. But managing a separate domain / server / registration / email / etc. for that purpose hasn't seemed worth it. $20 a year is pretty reasonable. I think the one thing that would stop me from taking up on a service like this would be the "omg.lol" - it's just a little too off-brand for a guy who wears all black and hates texting. But I can see how a lot of people might be into it.
- pc86 4y ago
  Honestly the dichotomy of that personality type with an "@omg.lol" email is pretty great to me, personally.
  - noduerme 4y ago
    Hah! Good point. I might have to give it a shot just for the irony factor. Kinda like a happy face Tshirt. I saw an original one from the 80s (70s ?) in a vintage store for like $500, almost bought it... so in a way, as something you only wear a couple times a year this would be a real bargain ;) I do like the idea of not just a landing page and email, but a little identity package that's not part of a social network.
- factsarelolz 4y ago
  > it's just a little too off-brand for a guy who wears all black and hates texting. I'm in the boat with style but I threw 20$ at it because I know I'll get a few interesting looks. Might even add it to my "recruiter" resume.
- gglitch 4y ago
  Bummer that .nil and .null are not available.
  - avx56 4y ago
    .undefined
cirrus3 4y ago
because you can't get omg.lol, it is obv taken. Not saying it is great reason, but that is the reason since you asked.
denkmoon 4y ago
I bought <my-name>.is.gay, because lol (nothing derogatory, I just used it as a link shortener). About 6 months later it stopped working because apparently reselling subdomains isn't allowed for .gay :(
- winterqt 4y ago
  How much were they selling subdomains for, out of curiosity? (Was it like a single person, or a company?)
  - denkmoon 4y ago
    $5, pretty sure it was just a single person.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

The hostname is pretty fun sounding, seems to offer a basic profile page and email forwarding. Assuming the setup is noob friendly I wouldn’t call it a very unfair price. Yes you can do it for cheaper in gandi but seems more daunting a task. The eTLD stuff they mention are interesting, still trying to understand what it actually means though. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Suffix_List https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Suffix_List

simonhamp 4y ago

It's not just a subdomain. It's the landing page, an email address with forwarding, creation of a Mastodon account on their instance... there's a lot there. $20/year is actually a bargain as it would likely cost you more than that each month to run all of that yourself

robjan 4y ago
That's great until they get bored of running the service and you've now lost all of the aforementioned which are dependent on their domain.
- simonhamp 4y ago
  Seems like a bit of fun. I've definitely thought even less about something before parting with $20 on it /shrug
  - quickthrower2 4y ago
    It is not the $20 that is a the main problem. Backlinks to your profile and contacts with that email address for example.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- Volundr 4y ago
  I mean you could say the same about any business. I fail to see how this is unique in that regard.
charcircuit 4y ago
A DNS server, landing page and email can be had for free. For the rest there are free alternatives like twitter, pastebin, etc.
derefr 4y ago
Many DNS registrars offer very similar sets of value-add services for free for real TLDs people buy through them. Web "parking pages" and vanity email forwarding are table stakes. What wouldn't be table stakes, would be if each of these was its own Mastodon instance, or something else like that that actually had an OpEx cost.
- strokirk 4y ago
  Trouble is, many registrars do with with way worse UX. I own domains from two registrars and loathe to use their interfaces.
hot_gril 4y ago
I get it, but $20 still seems rather high for that. Anyway, it's a cool website.
- 627467 4y ago
  Interesting... I share that feeling, yet, if they actually positioned this as: "Pay 20usd/y for your social account in our mastodon instance and get free subdomain, webpage and email forwarding" I would find this totally acceptable, considering the potential costs of actually running a mastodon instance.
  - hot_gril 4y ago
    There are plenty of free-to-use Mastodon instances. They claim theirs is nicer, but it's hard to tell upfront, so it makes sense to me that they'd focus on the whole personal homepage aspect. If I liked the omg.lol domain name a ton, I'd pay for this.

tptacek 4y ago

Why would pay you $20/y for a regular domain that doesn't do anything until you spend more money (and time and money) to make it do something?

quickthrower2 4y ago
The main reason is you have more protection and guaranteed continual ownership of the thing (depending on the TLD you choose, of course). Whereas if this service shut down in 12 months time ... well it wouldn't be buckling any trends by doing so. And if they shut down and let the omg.lol lapse or sell it, someone could then redirect all the subdomains to who knows what. Another reason might be domain trust? If spammers use omg.lol subdomains the entire thing might be blacklisted for email. Domains are easier to resell. I don't think there will be a secondary market for omg.lol and if you sell you business based on an omg.lol it will be a red flag vs. a top level domain. On the other hand if you intent is a personal CV / bio type page, with email (you need fastmail too) and so on, the $20 is a great deal. But I would rather just use a xyz.netlify.com for such a project, then couple that with a free email service.
- derefr 4y ago
  > Another reason might be domain trust? If spammers use omg.lol subdomains the entire thing might be blacklisted for email. I think that them being on the https://wiki.mozilla.org/Public_Suffix_List https://wiki.mozilla.org/Public_Suffix_List makes that unlikely. (a Public Suffix is a thing like .co.uk — would it make sense to blacklist .co.uk? Not unless you're the type of postmaster who is willing to blacklist entire TLDs like .biz as well.)
  - quickthrower2 4y ago
    Ok I didn't know about this list. Feel like I should have known! I always though it was up to countries and top-level operators. I imagined something like .uk publishing somehow that .co.uk is a top level domain, for example. I think the requirements to run a top level domain, like .lol itself are pretty onerous? But I wonder if it is easier to get your subdomain added to the public suffix list, and I wonder what legal guarantees are afforded to someone who registers such a domain.

noduerme 4y ago

I can see a lot of potential here as an alternative for people like me who don't have or want social media accounts. Sometimes I do want to share a profile with people without linking to my business website. But managing a separate domain / server / registration / email / etc. for that purpose hasn't seemed worth it. $20 a year is pretty reasonable. I think the one thing that would stop me from taking up on a service like this would be the "omg.lol" - it's just a little too off-brand for a guy who wears all black and hates texting. But I can see how a lot of people might be into it.

pc86 4y ago
Honestly the dichotomy of that personality type with an "@omg.lol" email is pretty great to me, personally.
- noduerme 4y ago
  Hah! Good point. I might have to give it a shot just for the irony factor. Kinda like a happy face Tshirt. I saw an original one from the 80s (70s ?) in a vintage store for like $500, almost bought it... so in a way, as something you only wear a couple times a year this would be a real bargain ;) I do like the idea of not just a landing page and email, but a little identity package that's not part of a social network.
factsarelolz 4y ago
> it's just a little too off-brand for a guy who wears all black and hates texting. I'm in the boat with style but I threw 20$ at it because I know I'll get a few interesting looks. Might even add it to my "recruiter" resume.
gglitch 4y ago
Bummer that .nil and .null are not available.
- avx56 4y ago
  .undefined

cirrus3 4y ago

because you can't get omg.lol, it is obv taken. Not saying it is great reason, but that is the reason since you asked.

denkmoon 4y ago

I bought <my-name>.is.gay, because lol (nothing derogatory, I just used it as a link shortener). About 6 months later it stopped working because apparently reselling subdomains isn't allowed for .gay :(

winterqt 4y ago
How much were they selling subdomains for, out of curiosity? (Was it like a single person, or a company?)
- denkmoon 4y ago
  $5, pretty sure it was just a single person.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]